Jodhi Meares was on her sixth driving suspension the night of the crash / Picture: Justin LloydSource: News Corp Australia

Lawyers and road safety advocates expressed outrage yesterday that Meares got off for high range drink driving with an $1100 fine and a 12-month disqualification period — a third of the automatic sentence of three years — for the June 2 incident in Bellevue Hill in which she flipped her four-wheel-drive and damaged three parked cars.

One prominent Sydney criminal lawyer said he was “astounded” that Meares did not even get a Section 9, good behaviour bond.

But the ex-wife of James Packer claimed that she never received many of the unpaid fines and suspension notices because someone had been stealing her mail for a decade.

“I was talking to half a dozen lawyers at court today and we all thought she should have got at least community service and two years’ ­disqualification,” he said.

Pedestrian Council of ­Australia chairman Harold Scruby called on the Director of Public Prosecutions to ­appeal Magistrate Julie Huber’s sentence at Waverley Local Court on Wednesday.

Jodhi Meares entering Waverley Court.Source: News Corp Australia

The former model had a blood-alcohol content of 0.181, more than three times the legal limit, on the night of the crash on O’Sullivan Rd.

Meares pleaded guilty to the drunken prang but had two further charges of driving while suspended withdrawn.

Her sentence follows The Daily Telegraph’s report showing that people in the western suburbs and regional towns are 50 per cent more likely to go to jail for high range drink driving offences than those living in Sydney’s blue-ribbon suburbs.

Source: DailyTelegraph

It was a far lighter sentence than that handed down in a Port Kembla court to a Fairy Meadow man, 46, who last week was put on a good behaviour bond, fined $2500 and disqualified from driving for two years after pleading guilty to driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.2.

Meares’ lawyer Chris ­Murphy blamed a mail thief for her four fine default ­suspensions since 2009, ­saying Rose Bay police had told her that someone was ­interfering with her letterbox.

He said she also had her ­licence suspended once ­because of demerit points.

FRAIL Jodhi Meares tottered in and out of court on her glittery stilettos on Wednesday, staring into the middle-distance, ignoring journalists attempting to ask her questions.

The illusion she’s attempting to create is “hunted victim of rapacious media”.

But the reality is this: Jodhi Meares is a serially irresponsible driver with a rap sheet that would challenge Lara Bingle’s. Her first brush with traffic police was in 1989, when she was 18, for driving without a licence. Curiously, though, her lawyer says she’s been driving for just 19 years — since 1995.

Since then she’s been caught driving on a suspended licence at least three times, speeding at least five times, failing to wear a seatbelt, using a mobile phone while driving — and she has had her licence suspended at least six times, for a total of 33 months.

On the night she rolled her Range Rover in Bellevue Hill, her lawyer told the court she’d done an intense yoga session, eaten a small piece of lamb (no carbs) and consumed “four-and-three-quarter” drinks.

Five drinks?

I weigh a lot more than Jodhi’s 48kg and the last time I had five drinks I ended up in bed for 24 hours. It’s a miracle she could walk to the car.

Haunted by her marriage to James Packer? She’s lucky not to be haunted by something much worse: the image of an injured pedestrian or motorist. Meares could have well caused a serious accident.

The most shocking thing about Meares’ “punishment” is that it’s typical.

Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data shows the majority (67 per cent) of people convicted on their first high-range drink-driving offence get exactly the same penalty as Meares: a one-year licence suspension and an average fine of just $1056.

For Meares, a $10 million divorcee, $1100 is no penalty at all. It’s like fining me $5. And it’s little reason to hope she might change her ways.

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